She took the last few steps and stood on the rag with a sigh. The dash across the gravel had set her pulse racing loudly.

“Thanks,” she said, looking up at me and sounding breathless. Her light brown eyes sparkled in the light. My gut clenched with the pull, and I itched to touch her but noticed her anxious scent.

“Sam just told me that you’re to be confined to a room for the remainder of the day. With me.”

I frowned, trying to think of a reason why the Elders were interfering. I’d done everything they’d asked of me. Sam had acknowledged my Claim. They had no right to upset her by forcing her to spend time with me.

“They want to see how we react to each other so they can determine if you really do have a Claim to me.” She spoke quickly as if hurrying to share a secret.

If I had a Claim to her? Sam had acknowledged me. I growled, frustrated.

“What? You don’t want to spend time with me?” she said, sounding surprised.

Not spend time with her? I looked down so she wouldn’t see just how badly I wanted that. Though I wanted it, I wanted her to spend time with me willingly. Not through force.

“You do want to spend time with me, don’t you?” Her soft, uncertain words had me opening my mouth. At the last second, I closed it and shrugged, unable to give her the real, desperate answer.

“So, it’s not me. Don’t you like being indoors?”

I would go anywhere she was, but I couldn’t say that either. I kept silent and met her gaze hoping she’d understand it wasn’t her.

“Ok. If it’s not me and not being indoors, then what?”

She didn’t let me guess where she was going for long.

“You don’t want to be told when or how to spend time with me. You don’t want someone telling you what to do. Is that right?”

Wrong. But I could see this wasn’t about me. It was about her. I studied her, waiting for her to say what she needed to say.

“Yeah, me either.”

She didn’t want to be told what to do. Was she afraid being my Mate would mean we would start telling her what to do? No one would. Not even me. But that didn’t mean I had to let her go. It just meant I needed to give her space and time.

She stepped off the rag, bent down to pick it up, shook it out, and handed it to me.

“I lied to you, Clay. I thought maybe if you knew how it felt to have your choices taken from you, you’d understand why I want to leave. It’s nothing personal.”

This was about last night and about the truck. Her honesty didn’t make her plea to leave less painful. How could I give her what she wanted yet give us a chance?

I took the rag and turned back to the truck, thinking quickly as I picked up a ratchet and started to loosen yet another bolt.

“Your instincts say I’m the one. I don’t have those instincts. Instead, I just keep thinking how I don’t even know you. And the little bit Sam’s told me...that you spend most of your time in your fur...well, it doesn’t help me understand how there can be anything between us. I have no fur. I can’t just run off into the woods with you.

“I’ve enrolled in college—one I chose—despite Sam’s opposition. Do you know why I picked it? Because it was far enough away that I knew it’d be harder for people to tell me what to do. Major decisions, up until this point, have been made by others based on what they thought would be best for me. Sure, they ask me what I think and try to consider it, but not always. How do you think Sam got me to Introductions for the past two years? It wasn’t by asking me each time if I felt like going.”

Sam forced her? This wasn’t good.

“I don’t mean to sound heartless. I’ve been through enough Introductions to know what they mean to your kind. I’m not trying to throw your traditions back in your face. I’m just asking for some compromise. Don’t ask me to forget the one thing I’ve chosen on my own.

“If you’re serious about me, then come to the city with me and learn while I learn. We can get to know each other.”

Hell, yes!

“I need that in order to even consider the possibility of us. I know I’m asking a lot. You’d need to start talking, stop growling, and bathe. No offense meant, but you look like a crazy man the way you are.”

Damn. That hurt. But she’d struck on an idea. A better plan started to take shape, and I hid my smile.

“I know it wouldn’t be easy on you. You’ll be surrounded by people. It’ll probably be uncomfortable after you’ve been on your own for so long. But we’d be able to spend time together, to get to know each other—the normal, human way—and see how things go. We’d both be giving a little, then. Well, you’d be giving a little more, but...will you think about it?”

There was nothing to consider.

As she walked away, I eyed the truck, thinking of everything I would need to do to be human.

It was late by the time I thought I had all the pieces back where they belonged. I made my way into the main building, heading toward the kitchen first. The place was deserted, but as usual, Charlene had something for a quick meal in the refrigerator. I wolfed down the meatloaf sandwich in four bites then pushed through the double-doors and walked the halls to Gabby’s apartment.

Before I knocked, I listened for any sign someone was awake. After several moments of hearing nothing, I knocked lightly, not wanting to wake her. Inside, I heard movement. Sam didn’t make me wait long before he opened the door.

“Need the keys,” I said.

Sam looked me over with bleary eyes, then shuffled over to the counter to pick up his keys.

“You’ve decided to let her go?” he asked, handing them over.

Not likely. I debated what to tell Sam. I was still mad at him for the role he’d played in getting Gabby here.

“We came to an agreement,” I said.

“Really?”

“She said I should live with her, get to know her.”

Sam’s tired air disappeared.

“Did she now?”

“She did. But she thought she was scaring me away by saying it.” I lifted the keys. “I’ll bring these back in a bit.”

He nodded, and I left, taking the keys outside. The truck started fine, and the rumble of the engine brought a smile to my face. It had less of a rattle now. I turned it off and went back inside.

Sam must have stayed up because he answered the door before I knocked. He looked just as beat and could barely keep his eyes open.

I handed him the keys.

“Don’t tell her I spoke.”

I waited until he nodded then I left again.

Outside, I swiped my hair back from my face and considered my next move. I needed to keep her guessing. If she didn’t know what I had planned, she couldn’t say no. I stripped from the clothes, tossed them on the porch, then took off in my fur, heading south to Sam’s place.

Everyone knew where the Elders lived. They belonged to all of us, not just the packs. They were there to help. I’d never asked for help, and I wouldn’t start now; but I wasn’t going there for help, anyway.

Now that Sam had acknowledged my Claim and knew Gabby had invited me to college with her, he’d take her back home. That played right into my plan. To show her I had no interest in telling her what to do or stopping her from attending a school she’d chosen, I wouldn’t approach her again until after she moved. But, that didn’t mean I planned to ignore her for the summer. I meant to study my Mate in a setting familiar to her.

So I made my way to Sam’s place, taking my time as I traveled. The trees and fields gave way to roads and houses then city blocks.

People in town weren’t friendly to my kind. They tended to yell “get” at me as if I were a dog. I ignored them, kept moving, and slowly closed the distance between Gabby’s home and me. As towns grew closer together, I traveled at night, keeping to the shadows.

Seven days after leaving the Compound, I found Sam’s yellow house. I sat in the shadow of a tree across the street in a neighbor’s back yard. The spot afforded me a view of Sam’s picture window.